Chapter Two

When Lucas sees Haley, he wraps his arms around her and closes his eyes. Her hair smells like Herbal Essences. Passion flower and chamomile. Mountain spring water. (He read the bottle once.) Absentmindedly he brings a hand up to touch her hair; he smoothes it down.

Half-formed thoughts wander through his brain.

He opens his eyes and the sun gleams off her hair and he smiles and kisses the crown of her head.

"Hey," she says when he finally releases her.

His hand brushes hers.

He knows that the lotion she uses is peaches & apricot something. He knows because he emptied her purse once and examined all of it.

He also knows that if he kisses her, her lips will taste like cherry lip gloss.

And he knows he shouldn't.

* * *

"Peyton!" Jakes says.

She whirls around. "Oh. Hey, Jake."

"Yeah. Um. Look, I know I keep asking you, but Jenny likes you so much…"

"Another wedding?" she smiles.

* * *

She is waiting in the hallway for Nathan to finish changing in the locker room; she smoothes her hair and applies lip gloss to her full lips.

Lucas sees her and yells, "Haley!" He jogs up to her and smiles at her; she smiles back.

"Hey, Lucas."

He puts his hands in his pockets and she plays with a strand of her hair.

"Haley!" He looks up and sees Nathan. Haley grins and Nathan runs up to her and they kiss; the Nathan sees Lucas and nods, dismissing him.

Lucas says: "See you later, Haley."

* * *

Brooke has perfect nails, and a perfect smile. She is immaculate.

She examines her nails, and, satisfied, caps the bottle of dusky rose lacquer and drops it back into her bag of nail polish.

She blows on her nails and then, carefully, begins to flip through a magazine. She reads an article about How To Tell if A Guy Likes You, which she rolls her eyes at – because she's Brooke, and every guy likes her. She looks at the fashion pages and takes a quiz: Do You Know How to Tell Others What You Want?

Yes, Brooke says, yes. It's pretty easy to tell guys, "I want to be on top, baby."

But deep down Brooke knows that what she wants she will never be able to voice.

Because Brooke wants to be loved. And no one could ever love a girl like Brooke.

* * *

Peyton is always disappointed by guys. She was disappointed by Nathan; she was disappointed by Lucas; and when the doorbell rings and Nikki is standing there, she is disappointed by Jake.

It has become their tradition to hang out whenever she baby-sits, and so they are in the middle of a movie and pizza when the doorbell rings; Peyton says to Jake, "I'll get it," and when she opens the door, Nikki is standing there.

"Hi," Nikki says, "I'm here to see Jenny."

"Oh," says Peyton, and she looks from Jake to Nikki and she feels as if this is that night when Lucas chose Brooke all over again, and she says, "I'll see you later, ok, Jake?" and she runs out of there as fast as she can.

* * *

Haley remembers:

When she was thirteen, Lucas slept next to her on her bed.

"I love you," Lucas mumbled. And then his eyes fluttered closed, and his breathing became even, and she knew he was asleep. Her hands were still threaded in his hair, and she blinked at his peaceful face, and she wanted to wake him up and kiss him and say, "I love you, too. I love you. I love you. I love you."

But she didn't. And she knew that he wouldn't remember that he said it, or maybe he would just pretend that he didn't. And maybe he'd never tell her he loves her in the way that she wants him to.

But he did say it. He said, "I love you," and his voice was tired, and she knew she would never forget it.

Her fingers were still tangled in his hair, she realized, but she didn't bother to remove them, because he was warm and she liked the feeling of the pulse point in his temple, and because he was him. Because he was Luke, and she didn't want to stop touching him.

Because he's Luke.

* * *

Brooke watches Nathan fiddle with Haley's hair.

She closes her eyes, and thinks, I want that.

* * *

Lucas watches Nathan fiddle with Haley's hair.

"Hey, Haley!" he calls. She looks up, and so does Nathan. "Can I talk to you for a sec? Alone?"

After a moment, Haley nods, and walks with Lucas to a nearby empty classroom.

"Haley," he begins, and his hands move as if he is trying to communicate something his mouth cannot say. "Haley…"

She stares at him, and opens her mouth to say, "What?" but suddenly Lucas' mouth is upon hers, hot and sweet. He brings a hand up to stroke her cheek.

And when they finally pull apart, all she can do is stare.